multiline search and replace tools

did you ever try to find and replace multiple lines of code at once? want to do it in Visual Studio? too bad, sorry, out of luck. thankfully, there are some intrepid coders out there who have picked up the slack and created desktop tools which fill the void.

the first i came across was Nodesoft’s Search and Replace. it’s a suitable tool in most respects. quick, easy to use, super-light footprint (it doesn’t even install – just runs on top o’ the .NET framework). my only qualm is that it throws some odd character at the end of the file after it is done editing it. not a big deal, but it’s not ideal. other than that one pet peeve, the interface is simple and quick to learn. you can filter to only search certain file types or just check them all. beware of choosing all on a directory which is under source control as it will throw you a nice little alert window for each file it can’t open – which equates to a lot of ‘ok’ clicking to get through it. it can search a whole directory and include subdirectories (bonus!). and it’s completely free, so you can beat that.

next up is Advanced Find and Replace by Abacre. this one is a little heavier – it actually has an installer. the interface is also more complex. lots of buttons to do things for you. looks like there is also a batch replace where you can save replacements you do on a regular basis (nice!). another bonus is that the s&r i was working on when i closed the program is saved, session style, when i reopen the program. it’s quick and unobtrusive and i think i might like it. bummer on this one is that it doesn’t appear to be free. might have to talk to the boss about some licensing if i find more uses.

i’m sure there are more, but i just picked the first couple in the google results because those are obviously the best. google would never steer me in the wrong direction.